Friday, June 09, 2017

There are more New Yorkers living in poverty than there are people living in Philadelphia or Phoenix, according to the "Focus on Poverty" report released by the NYU Furman Center this week.

1.7 million New Yorkers live in poverty, out of a total 8.5 million residents. The number of impoverished New Yorkers exceeds the population of Philadelphia (an estimated 1.5 million in 2016) and Phoenix (1.6 million), estimated to be the fifth and sixth most populous cities in the nation in 2016.

New York's poverty rate, which has hovered around 19 to 21 percent since the 1980s, is higher than the national rate, and the Furman Center notes that it is particularly high for children and senior citizens. The poverty rate for children in NYC was 30 percent from 2011 to 2015; nationally, it's only 22 percent. The study also found that in 20 percent of NYC's neighborhoods, at least one-third of the households are poor and that concentration of poverty has worsened since 2010.

There's also a serious racial divide when it comes to neighborhoods, as the study found poor black and Hispanic New Yorkers were much more likely to live in high or extreme poverty neighborhoods than poor white and Asian New Yorkers—in fact, over half of poor black and Hispanic New Yorkers lived in those neighborhoods, while only 23 percent of poor Asian New Yorkers and about 30 percent of poor white New Yorkers lived in high or extreme poverty neighborhoods.

"The increase in poverty concentration in New York City is deeply troubling, as is the fact that poor children and poor black and Hispanic New Yorkers are living in high-poverty neighborhoods at higher rates than other poor New Yorkers.” Katherine O’Regan, Faculty Director at the NYU Furman Center, said in a statement.

More than half of the Bronx's neighborhoods are high or extreme poverty areas.